


hold tight, you're slowly coming back to life

by kluxbusters



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Clubbing, Drinking, I'm sorry class, M/M, Magical Realism, Teleportation, first chaptered fic woo, i'm ignoring lindy's diagnosis because i don't want to think about it, patty does NOT DIE, retirement fic, this is important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-01-25 05:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21350734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kluxbusters/pseuds/kluxbusters
Summary: It’s a Thursday morning when Patty stops replying to TK’s texts.It’s a full week later when TK opens his phone to a SportsNet notification.BREAKING: Philadelphia Flyer Nolan Patrick retires from the NHL at age 21.
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 12
Kudos: 176





	1. i'll be keeping

**Author's Note:**

> as always, if you found this work by googling yourself or someone you know, cease and desist. kidding, mostly, but seriously: click off this work and do something else with your time. maybe donate to a charity! 
> 
> please don't read my works on your public podcast or repost them onto a public site. 
> 
> back to the usual: this work is a beast, mainly because it's my first multi-chaptered fic on here. it's also tough to write because i love love love nolan so much, and i hope his migraines are just a temporary obstacle. obviously, that means that this is a retirement fic, and nolan does retire due to his current health issues. that being said, nolan, i wish you the best, and i hope you feel better soon.

It’s a Thursday morning when Patty stops replying to TK’s texts.

It’s a full week later when TK opens his phone to a SportsNet notification.

_ **BREAKING: Philadelphia Flyer Nolan Patrick retires from the NHL at age 21.** _

A collection of things TK does after finding out Patty retired and didn’t tell him beforehand:

  * Call him about 7 times in one hour.
  * Call G, and then hang up once G asks where Patty is.
  * Cry while ordering the pizza off the Domino’s app.
  * Call Patty again, and leave him a voicemail offering him pizza if he comes over.
  * Eat an entire pineapple pizza by himself.
  * Walk up to Patty’s apartment and bang on the door until the neighbor’s baby starts crying.
  * Go to sleep.
  * Go to practice.
  * Come home.
  * Lose a hockey game.
  * Go to a nightclub in the middle of Philly.
  * Get absolutely, totally, white-girl wasted.
  * Call Patty one more time.
  * Lose another hockey game.
  * Get drunk again.
  * Run into a NBCSN Philly writer.
  * Tell said NBC writer to “fuck off and stop asking about Patty”
  * Throw up in an alleyway.
  * Call Ryanne and ask her to pick him up, please. (He may be plastered but at least he’s polite.)
  * Get picked up by G, who doesn’t say a word the entire ride home.
  * Spend a week at the Giroux’s, taking care of Gavin and eating his weight in dairy-free ice cream.
  * Get back on the ice and only cry a little when he realizes he’ll never skate with Patty again.
  * Win a fucking hockey game.
  * Cry some more.

Travis spends that week at the Giroux's thinking about what he would've done differently, if he knew he was never going to play with Patty again. Maybe he would've been nicer, or said something about how good Patty was, or what a good pass he gave him, or how hard he could hit other players so effectively. Travis would've done it differently, is what he's saying.

"This season's been rough," G says during locker cleanout.

"You can say that again," Gudas interjects, to the whoops and shouts of the other guys.

"But," G continues. "I think we came out stronger. I think we came out as a team."

Travis has a sudden, terrible, memory of Nolan, sitting across the room.

"Sometimes the only way out is through," Nolan had said after a particularly hard loss to Nashville. "Whatever happens, we're a team."

Travis looks across the room now, to stall covered in letters and notes to Patty. He swallows, hard, and swipes at his eyes. G, the good captain that he is, meets Travis' eyes but doesn't comment on the tears.

"We lost some people, and we gained some people." TK knows his cue when he hears it, and jostles Joel, who's sitting in the stall next to him.

"Let's go home, get some rest, and come back stronger for next season. Here's to a short offseason!" G finishes, and the room erupts in cheers.

Travis spends a lot of the offseason in Philly, only going back home for two weeks at the beginning of the summer.

He knows it’s weird to basically be mourning Nolan, but he visits a lot of the places they frequented. There’s the coffee shop on 3rd they always got muffins from, the bookstore Patty swore he’d take his future wife to, the trail they took Harv and Charlie on that one time. There’s a lot of Philly that TK associates Nolan with, is all he’s saying.

Travis also starts taking classes at University of Phoenix. They’re online, of course, but he gets his work done, and no one else in his classes seem to know who he is. So he takes one class on literature in film, one class on sports psychology, and another on advertising in sports. Travis likes his film class the most.

He likes to think somewhere else--maybe Winnipeg, or New York City--Patty’s taking classes too, learning how to do something other than hockey. On his best days, he imagines Patty, skating down a street somewhere in L.A., salmon shorts on, one hand gripping an iced coffee. 

He misses Patty, is what he’s saying.

Travis calls him, again, at the beginning of the fall, when he’s alone in the locker room.

"Patty..." He starts. "Nolan."

He takes a deep breath.

"I miss you, okay? I know you had to leave Philly, and retire, and I get it, but I miss you. I miss skating with you, and I miss playing with you, but most of all, I miss hanging out with you. You're my best friend, Pats. I love you. Call me if you feel like it."

He hangs up.

“Teeks,” He hears from behind him, and turns to see Lindy standing in the doorway. Oskar’s got his skates in one hand, and an expression like someone just kicked his dog.

“Jesus, Lindy, you scared me,” TK laughs, going for casual. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” Oskar says, crossing the room to stand in front of Travis.

“What?”

“I don’t know how to say this,” Oskar starts.

“Then don’t,” TK says, suddenly angry—at Oskar, at G, and at Nolan, too.

“I think you need to hear it,” Oskar says.

“I can promise you, I don’t,” TK says, pushing past Oskar and out of the locker room. He storms all the way to his car, slams the door closed, and then just sits in the silence.

“What the fuck,” Patty says from the passenger seat.

“Patty?” TK breathes, like if he speaks too loud he’ll scare Patty away.

“How the—Teeks, what the fuck did you do?” Nolan asks.

“What are you talking about?” TK says, eyes scanning over Patty’s face, chest, legs, well, anywhere he can see, really. He’s gotten a haircut since Travis saw him last, an undercut replacing his simpler hairstyle from last year. He’s tanner, Travis realizes with a start, the usual pale color of his arms now a olive tone.

“I wasn’t here a second ago,” Nolan explains.

“Well, yes, obviously.”

“Like. I was in California a second ago.”

“Why were you in California?” TK asks.

“I have a place there,” Nolan explains exasperatedly.

“Really?”

“That is _so_ not the point, Teeks!”

“So how are you here?” TK asks.

“It’s not like I got on a plane, Travis,” Nolan sighs, and woah, he only calls Travis by his name when he’s mad.

“Sorry,” Travis offers. “Was it like… teleportation or something?”

“I was in Santa Barbara, I blinked, and then I was in your car.”

“That’s fucking weird,” Travis says. 

“You’re not the one who got transported 3,000 miles in an instant,” Nolan huffs.

“No, well, yeah, that’s weird, but I just can’t imagine you in Cali, dude. What do you even do there?”

“I’m going to school!” Nolan exclaims. “I got into UCSB and everything.”

Travis takes a minute to take in this new Nolan, with a Cali tan and a college education and an attitude that’s so, so far from the Patty he called his.

“Teeks?” Nolan asks.

This Nolan’s more confident than NHL Nolan. Sure, NHL Nolan played with his body, and knew he was good, but this Nolan seems more. Inhabiting more space, maybe, or maybe just more sure of himself. This Nolan would know how to put together a desk from Ikea, Travis thinks. This Nolan knows what he wants.

“Nolan—” Travis starts, but he blinks and Nolan’s gone.


	2. in my thoughts you're far away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travis is just on the edge of freaking out when the phone rings, and he grabs at the phone like a thirsty man in a desert.
> 
> It’s his profile photo, a picture of him smiling at the camera from G and Ryanne’s wedding. He clicks the green button, and a voice comes through the line.
> 
> “Teeks,” Someone says.
> 
> 'Who is this?" Travis demands.
> 
> “It’s Patty, you dumbfuck.”
> 
> “Why am I in your body?” Travis asks.

Travis doesn’t see Nolan again after that day in the parking lot. He gets one text from him, two hours after he gets home from the practice rink.

_ Good to see you _ , it reads.

_ miss u _ , Travis types out then deletes. 

_ yeah _ , he sends instead.

He goes through practice and games like normal, and doesn’t tell anyone he saw Nolan. What would he even say, exactly? That Nolan had teleported into his car and then teleported out, and they had zero witnesses? That just sounds like a good way to get scratched.

Oskar does end up cornering him at some point, and explaining to him that missing Patty is perfectly natural, but maybe he should try to talk it over with someone?

Travis laughs and agrees, clapping Oskar on the back as he walks to the trainer’s room. Lindy’s gonna make a good A one day, he thinks as he sits on the trainer’s bench.

He calls Crouser one night, just to talk. It’s nice, in the way that talking to Crouser always is. Neither of them have any expectations. They sit in silence for a while, after both of them have exhausted their words. The breezes in Phoenix and Philly almost sound the same, in the deep dark of the night.

Travis has been blackout drunk before. He’s woken up in Patty’s place, in G’s car, even in the practice rink one time. But he usually doesn’t go home with someone he doesn’t know. And considering the last thing he remembers is hanging up on Crouser at 1 AM, he’s pretty sure he didn’t go out.

He takes a minute to look around the room, but when he goes to swing his legs over the side of the bed and stand, his eyes catch on the skin tone, tanner than he's used to, with the lines of a tattoo peeking out from just below his shorts. Travis stands and looks in the mirror, and Nolan is staring back at him. It's the same stringy brown hair, the same red cheeks, the same grey blue eyes staring into his own. Travis is just on the edge of freaking out when the phone rings, and he grabs at the phone like a thirsty man in a desert.

It’s his profile photo, a picture of him smiling at the camera from G and Ryanne’s wedding. He clicks the green button, and a voice comes through the line.

“Teeks,” Someone says.

'Who is this?" Travis demands.

“It’s Patty, you dumbfuck.”

“Why am I in your body?” Travis asks.

“I don’t know, why am I in yours?” Nolan asks, and wait, is that really what his voice sounds like? Jesus, he gets why Jake Guentzel had told him to shut up now.

“Am I in California?” Travis asks, striding over the window. All signs point to yes, especially the surfboard he spots in the corner, and the beach within walking distance. The sun is just starting to rise, painting the water a rose pink.

“Yeah. I’m assuming I’m in Philly?” Nolan asks.

“Yeah. We have a game today, Pats,” Travis says.

“I still remember how to play, don’t worry,” Nolan laughs. “And your body’s already conditioned.”

“Oh yeah, right,” Travis sighs. “What do you have planned for today?” 

“Just classes. Oh yeah, I’m filming something for Ashley today. There should be notes on my phone, and my camera’s charging in the kitchen.”

“You film?” Travis asks, walking into the kitchen.

“Yeah, here and there. It’s a nice supplemental income. Plus I get to decide my own hours.”

“Supplemental’s a big word, Patty,” Travis teases.

“Fuck off,” Nolan laughs. “Where’s your kombucha?” 

“I don’t have any,” Travis responds. “I ran out over the weekend and haven’t been shopping yet.”

“You mind if I grab some?” Nolan asks.

“Go for it,” Travis responds.

It’s a little strange that they don’t talk about the whole body-swapping thing, but Travis figures it’s fine. They didn’t talk about the whole teleportation thing, and that was fine. Everything will be  _ fine _ .

Travis’ day is, it’s actually pretty nice. He goes to the one class that Nolan has that day, a class about advertisement and marketing. He remembers most of the vocab from that one class he took over the summer, and it’s nice to use his brain for something other than hockey again. The UCSB campus is _super_ nice, and after Travis goes surfing at noon, he understands why Nolan would choose this school. It's everything Patty did during the summer, with the added addition of year-round sun and a college education.

Travis looks at Nolan’s calendar once he’s home, and realizes he has to leave for Ashley’s shoot soon. He looks around for car keys, or a bus pass, but he’s left empty handed. 

_ Yo, how do you get around?  _ Travis texts.

_ take my longboard _ , Nolan responds. And then, a few seconds later;  _ try not to fall off. _

_ Haha _ , Travis texts back. And if he’s extra careful skating to Ashley’s place, well, no one needs to know.

Ashley’s great—she’s a fashion youtuber who just got back from London, and apparently loves working with Patty. She also has an oreo milkshake waiting for him when he gets there, which instantly makes her Travis’ favorite person. 

The shoot’s fairly easy. Ashley’s super patient, and even though his handwriting is like chicken scratch, Nolan’s notes are easy to follow. They have to redo a couple shots, but he think his favorite is the high angle shot of her in a blush-colored suit. He says as much as he’s packing up his gear, and she says she’ll try and fit it into the video.

It’s a nice look into Patty’s new life, Travis finds himself thinking. Nolan really has it together out here. But the more time he spends in Santa Barbara, the more he finds himself questioning Nolan’s new persona. Sure, this new Nolan fits right in with youtubers and movie stars, but the new Nolan also has a new circle of friends. The new Nolan doesn’t come over at 11 just to watch Bachelorette reruns and eat the one pint of dairy ice cream Travis has. 

That night, he facetimes Patty. It's super weird seeing his face from someone else's body, but when Travis tells Nolan as much, he just laughs.

"It's fine, in the morning we'll be back to normal." Nolan says.

"How can you be so sure about that?" Travis asks.

"Because that's what happened last time."

They sit in silence for a second, until Travis remembers they had a game that night.

"Hey, how was the game? We won, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, calm down. We won, and you got a goal and two assists. Pretty good night."

"Hey," Travis says. "You got a goal and two assists."

"Well it won't show up on _my _stat sheet, will it?" Nolan laughs bitterly.

"Nolan..." Travis starts.

"It's fine."

They stay on facetime for a little longer, until Travis hears Ryanne in the background.

"Hey, are you at G's place?" Travis asks.

"Yeah," Nolan says. "Didn't want to be alone tonight, but apparently you've been over there a lot, eh?"

"Hey, if you still lived in Philly I wouldn't be alone," Travis says, trying for joking, but by the look on Nolan's face, he falls a little short.

"Hey, Teeks, what--" G starts, walking into the room.

"I'm sorry I had to fucking retire, Trav--" Nolan stops once he realizes Claude's in the room.

"What?" G says, stopping in the doorway.

"What?" Nolan and Travis say at the same time.

"What the fuck is going on, Travis?" G says in his captain voice.

"Okay, well, I can explain," Nolan starts. "I'm not Travis."  


"You're Nolan," Ryanne says, appearing in the doorway, Gavin in her arms.

"How did you know?" Nolan asks, eyes widening.

"It wasn't hard," Ryanne laughs. "You two act super different, even if you are around each other 24/7."

"Okay, well, do either of you know why this is happening?" Nolan asks.

"We did it once, while Claude was in Edmonton and I was in Philly." Ryanne says.

"Well how did you fix it?" Travis asks.

"I don't know if this fixed it, really, but I told him I was pregnant."

"Well that's not going to fix anything for us," Nolan huffs.

"Oh my god, Nols, you're pregnant?" Travis says sarcastically. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Shut up," Nolan says, but he's laughing too.

"I'd just sleep it off, If I were you," Ryanne suggests.

They hang up the call shortly after that, because apparently new parents need sleep--who knew?

Travis stays up for a little while, just exploring Nolan's new place. He keeps thinking how he wants Nolan to know he was here, that this wasn't some strange dream, so he settles on scrawling a message on the bottom of Nolan's longboard. He hopes Nolan finds it.

The next morning, he gets up late, later than he usually does, and finds one new notification on his phone.

_Thanks for the note_, Nolan texted.  


_no_ problem, Travis replies.  


_Hey, if I were to book tickets to Philly..._ Nolan sends a minute later.  


_you can stay with me? _Travis texts.  


_Thanks teeks_, Nolan replies.  


_anything for you_, Travis replies before he can really think about it.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back for another round, this time with notes!  
sorry i forgot to include them last time, i was super focused on just getting the first chapter out there.  
really excited to hear what you guys think, comments are my lifeblood, and will sustain me through the long winter months.  
the third chapter will take a little longer to finish, 1) because i'm having surgery in two days, and 2) because i haven't even attempted an outline for it. but it will come, as all good writing does (but this story may end up being four chapters instead of three!)


	3. you give me the whole damn zoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A drink in each hand, he makes his way through the crowd, dodging suitcases and small children alike, until he's close enough to shout "Patty!" at Nolan's back.  
Travis knows the exact minute Nolan sees him, because his entire face lights up, a smile spreading across his face followed shortly by a red flush covering his cheeks. The two of them hug, Nolan's long arms reaching around Travis, landing on the small of his back.
> 
> "Missed you, bud," Travis says into Nolan's shoulder.
> 
> "Glad to be here," Nolan replies, grabbing his bag off the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: mentions of drinking

"And the flight's okay for your head? It's not too long or anything?" Travis asks.

"I'll be fine, Teeks," Nolan stresses. "And if I'm not, it's great vlog footage."

"Don't joke about that," Travis says.

"What, I can't use myself for clickbait now?" Nolan laughs.

"Just. Don't jinx anything, okay?" If Travis were a braver man, he'd say that he was excited to see Nolan again, to show him the new smoothie shop near the rink, to take him out to dinner. BUt instead, Travis says "Don't want you to lose any more brain cells. God knows you need 'em."

Nolan laughs, and Travis thinks it might be okay that he didn't say any of that other stuff.

Nolan flies into town on a Tuesday, the day before the Flyers' bye-week starts. The day's overcast and absolutely miserable, sky spitting rain onto the streets, but Travis couldn't be happier.

"Stop bouncing, Teeks," Jake says, putting gloved hand over Travis' knee.

"Sorry, sorry," Travis says, but he's not sorry at all. Because when he looks up at the clock, each tick is a second closer to Nolan's flight landing, a second to seeing Nolan's greasy hair in person again, another second closer to being Teeks And Patty again instead of just Travis.

AV even tells Travis to leave early because he can't stop staring at the clock, and Travis isn't going to argue with the coach. He grabs his stuff and _books_ it out of there, narrowly avoiding a speeding ticket on his way to the airport. With all the speeding he does, he's nearly half an hour early, so he heads to the Starbucks in the airport. He has to wait in line for a bit, then waits even longer for his drinks (because he's a courteous host, and he gets his friends Starbucks now. Because Travis is adult like that), which is when he spots Nolan.

A drink in each hand, he makes his way through the crowd, dodging suitcases and small children alike, until he's close enough to shout "Patty!" at Nolan's back.  
Travis knows the exact minute Nolan sees him, because his entire face lights up, a smile spreading across his face followed shortly by a red flush covering his cheeks. The two of them hug, Nolan's long arms reaching around Travis, landing on the small of his back.

"Missed you, bud," Travis says into Nolan's shoulder.

"Glad to be here," Nolan replies, grabbing his bag off the ground.

Nolan's not super jet lagged, luckily, and even though they decide to stay in that night and play chel, Nolan agrees to go out the following night.

"You sure you want to go?" Travis asks, standing in front of his closet. "It's totally cool if you don't."

"Is this your not-so-subtle way of telling me you don't want to go out?" Nolan asks.

"No, I want to go out, I'm just making sure you want to!"

"I want to go, okay?"

"Then let's go," Travis says, finally pulling one of his jackets off of its hanger.

The club itself is fun—Travis has been there a couple times with Lindy and some of the younger guys, but he likes going with Nolan the best. Always has. 

Travis and Nolan have a pretty set routine for clubbing, especially if they're not planning on picking up: one of them will grab a table while the other gets drinks, and then they'll trade off getting drinks for the rest of the night. They dance if they can't find a table, and for two twenty-something hockey players, they're not half bad. For a Wednesday, the place is pretty crowded, and Travis is pretty sweaty by the time he decides to grab him and Nolan more drinks. He makes eye contact with Nolan, who is currently dancing with some blonde twink, and jerks his head towards the bar to signal that he's getting more drinks. Nolan nods, hands settling on the blonde's hips as the guy begins grinding on him.  
Travis grabs Nolan's favorite IPA and a spiked hibiscus drink for himself, and turns to watch Nolan grind on the dance floor. 

Nolan's big hands are spread across the blonde's hips, the line of his chest pressed to the guy's back, and Travis _wants_. He wants so badly it's like he's just been sucker punched in the chest, all the air rushing out of his lungs in a second. The lights are flashing from red to blue to green to purple, but all Travis can focus on is the swoop of Nolan's hair, the sharp blush on Nolan's cheeks, the way Nolan moves with the guy. And then Nolan makes eye contact with him from twenty feet away, and Travis' feet start moving.  


He makes it all the way to Nolan's side, the blonde guy from before wandering off in the direction of the bar.

"Hi," Travis says over the pounding bass.

"Hey," Nolan laughs.

"Please tell me I don't have to grind on you to get you to come home with me."  


"Well you have to work for it a little don't you?" Nolan teases.

_Fuck it_, Travis thinks. 

"Fine," Travis says before rocking forwards and pressing his lips to Nolan's.

And then they're kissing, in the middle of this overcrowded, Wednesday night Philly club, music pounding around them.

They don't stay in the club for much longer after that, settling into an Uber so they can get back to Travis' apartment. 

Travis runs his hand up Nolan's thigh and watches as he tenses.

"Don't fucking do that," Nolan hisses.

"Why?" Travis asks, hand settling on Nolan's knee.

"Because it's hard enough for me to keep my hands off you," Nolan says.  Travis sucks in a breath, chest filling with a warm, prickling feeling. 

The Uber takes far too long, even with the minimal traffic. It takes even longer to get into Travis' apartment, the elevator ride seeming endless, Nolan seeming miles away even though he's standing close enough to touch.

Once they're through Travis' door, Nolan is on him, pressing Travis' body into the wood. Travis pushes back, walking them across the hardwood to the couch, where Nolan falls, letting Travis land on top of him.

"Wait, wait," Nolan says as Travis is mouthing at his neck.

"What is it?" Travis asks, breathless.

"You're not drunk, right?" Nolan asks.

"Not at all."  


"And you're sure you want to do this?"

"Definitely," Travis says, getting off of Nolan and beginning to unbutton his shirt.

"Where are you going?" Nolan asks, nearly whining.

"Wanna follow me and find out?" Travis says, letting his shirt slide off his arms and fall to the floor.

Nolan's footsteps sound on the hardwood as he stomps in the bedroom behind Travis.

It's funny, because when Travis wakes up the next morning, the other side of his bed is cold, and Nolan is nowhere to be seen. It's funny, because Nolan actually left all of his stuff there, in the bag he brought to Philly. It's funny because—actually, scratch that, because it's not funny at all. It's fucked up.

Because Travis didn't think that Nolan was like that, didn't think that Nolan slept with his best friend just for fun. Didn't think that Nolan would just _leave_ like that, with no explanation and no goodbye.

And Travis tells him as much. Several times.

Texts him, _so when you told me you wanted me, were you just fucking with me?  
_

Calls him _Hey, sorry about that last text, but I haven't heard from you in a while, and just wanted to make sure everything was..._

Travis even asks G if he's heard from Nolan, and when all he gets in response is a sad stare, knows it's over.

So Travis gives up. Stops calling Patty, stops texting him, lets their DM's get so buried that he'd have to search if he wanted to message him.

(He does dig through his DM's to find Nolan, sometimes, when it's too late at night to tell the difference between a good decision and an impulsive one, but never sends anything.)

"What's it like, having a friend suddenly retire like that?" Biz asks him, mic obnoxiously close to his face. Travis knew he shouldn't have agreed to this stunt at media day.

"Biz, can we not—" Travis starts.

"No, come on, dude," Biz continues. "Serious conversation, mano to mano, how are you? How's Pats?"  


"It's hard to be serious when your mic is right in my fucking face, dude," Travis uses the back of one hand to move the mic back.

"Kneeks, come on. Just answer the damn question and then we're done, alright?"  


"That's enough of that, don't you think?" G interrupts, dropping an arm across Travis' shoulders. "I think I hear someone calling for you, Paul."

"Yeah, I think so too," Jake says, appearing behind Travis.

"They sound pretty urgent," Simmer says, clapping a heavy hand down on Biz's shoulder. 

"Well, if someone's calling me," Biz gulps, staring at something above Travis with fear.

After Biz has left, Simmer turns to Travis with a friendly smile on his face. "You alright, Teeks?"

"Yeah, thanks Simmer. I think I'm just gonna get some fresh air," Travis says, loosening his tie.

Travis walks outside the building, hand tugging at his tie until it slips off his neck, fully untied.

"Where the fuck—" He hears from behind him. "Travis?"

Travis turns to see Nolan, in all his glory, standing behind him, dressed in jean shorts and a t-shirt.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Travis asks.

"It happened again," Nolan says. "The teleporting thing."

"Good for you," Travis says, clipped. Cold.

"Where are we?"

"Just outside the NHL headquarters."

"New York? Jesus."

They stand in silence for a while, long enough for Travis to stop being shocked and start being truly angry.

"So were you ever going to text me back? Or was the one night we had enough to convince you that ghosting me was the right option?"

"Teeks, it's not that—"

"Not that what?" Travis asks. "That you meant to ghost me? Because you've had 4 months to un-ghost me."

"Not that simple," Nolan says, running a hand through his hair.

"Seems pretty simple to me. You slept with me, and then you were gone in the morning. And I haven't heard from you since."

"That's... fair," Nolan says.

And then it's silent again, the sound of cars the only noise between them.

"Can you at least tell me why?" Travis asks after a while.

"After we had sex, I woke up in California," Nolan says.  


"You teleported back there?"

"Yeah."  


"And you didn't text or call because?"

"I guess I thought. Well, it sort've seemed like fate, you know? Like this was the universe's way of telling that we shouldn't be together. So I just. Listened."

"Patty."

"I know, it was kind of stupid. But by the time I realized that, I thought it was too late to fix it."

"Patty," Travis repeats, moving to stand in front of Nolan.

"What?"

"Shut up," Travis says, and leans up to kiss him.

Nolan leans into the kiss, and Travis can feel him smiling.

Then the side door to the building slams open, Hayesy tumbling out into the sunlight, and when Travis looks back, Nolan's gone.

Thirty seconds later, he gets a text, the buzz jolting him out of his Nolan-induced stupor.

**Nols: ** _we really have to figure out this fucking teleportation thing_

Travis takes a second to laugh, then types out his response.

_or i could just fly to you tonight?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew, this one was a ride!!! honestly, i did not think i was going to finish this fic (especially not in three chapters). but i'm glad i did--it took a turn i didn't really see coming, but that's the nature of literally anything i write.
> 
> thank you to all of you for your comments--they're the main reason i finished this story at all.  
also thank you to maia and jo, as always, you two are my biggest cheerleaders (and special thank you to maia, who had to listen to me yell about this fic for three hours straight)!


	4. coda (or, an addition)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just something i wanted to fit in but couldn't.

"Did you two ever figure out why you were swapping places?" Ryanne asks one day as the fire dwindles.

"Actually, no," Nolan laughs, scrubbing a hand up and down TK's shoulder.

"That's crazy!" She smiles, hand clutching a glass of wine. "So when did it stop?"

"It still happens sometimes," Nolan says.

"How do you deal with that?"

"Well, it never happens on the ice. Just, sometimes, I'll be sitting on the couch, blink, and then I'm in a smoothie shop in Newark," Travis says.

"Do you think it'll ever stop?" Ryanne asks. "I'm sorry I keep asking, it's just so weird to me."

"I don't know," Nolan says. "I don't know if I'd want it to."

Travis smiles, and reaches over to hold Nolan's hand. Smiles at him too, brushes a kiss across the back of Nolan's knuckles.

_Love you_, Travis thinks, and for a second he thinks Nolan heard it, with the way he smiles back, fire reflected in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, thanks for sticking around! i don't have much else to say--i know the updates have been sporadic and inconsistent, but in my defense, there was a lot going on. 
> 
> i hope you liked my first flyers fic. here's to more.


End file.
